Quote Originally Posted by cajunscot View Post
Reenactors.

T.
We need to be a bit careful seeing historical clothing through the eyes of reenactors. The "Renaissance Pleasure Faire" leaps to mind as an extreme example but even the pictures we've seen over the past few days don't quite jive with history.

When I first looked at the "Black Watch" picture I was quite confused since it seemed to contain contradictory patterns and styles but then seeing the pre-1945 got even more confused. The answer? It seems it was not a picture of someone of the 7th Battalion of Black Watch in WW-II but of a (hobby) reenactor. Do they know better? Perhaps but perhaps also its not that easy to find the right patterns in clothing that also fits. It might seem odd but today people are indeed a bit taller, much fatter and with larger heads than 60 odd years ago when a middle class flat with a built-in "refrigerator" meant there was a hole in a kitchen cupboard to let cold air from outside in...